Fire incident: Court rejects bail plea of Lucknow hotel owner

A special court here on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Rohit Agarwal, a director of the company that ran the hotel where four guests were killed in a fire incident earlier this month. The incident had taken place at Lucknow's Levana Suits Hotel.

Lucknow:A special court here on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Rohit Agarwal, a director of the company that ran the hotel where four guests were killed in a fire incident earlier this month. The incident had taken place at Lucknow's Levana Suits Hotel.

Passing the order, Special Judge Gaurav Kumar said the applicant was a director of the company which was running the hotel and in connivance with the Fire Department and development authorities, he committed serious illegalities in the construction of the hotel. It was said that the hotel was being run without a proper NOC and the applicant did not follow the guidelines. "The offence is very serious and the applicant is not entitled to bail at this stage," said the judge.

Earlier, moving the bail application, Agarwal had pleaded that he was not present in the hotel at the time of the fire incident. He had also stated in the bail plea that the hotel had an NOC from the Fire Department and the Lucknow Development Authority. He also said that the hotel had not committed any illegalities.

Opposing the bail plea, it was contended that due to criminal negligence of the accused, the incident took place. It was well within the knowledge of the applicant that if any fire incident took place, there would be no safe exit for guests as it did not provide proper exit place. It was also stated that gas cylinders were also kept in the hotel in an unsafe manner. (PTI)